Sharpest fall in graduate unemployment since 1999

Figures released by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) showed that last year saw the largest fall in graduate unemployment since 1999.

HECSU’s statistics reveal that 7.3 per cent of graduates who completed their degree in the summer of 2013 were unemployed six months after their graduation, compared to 8.5 per cent of students who finished university in 2012.

This is marginally higher than the national unemployment figures, which were 7.2 per cent in the same period.

The sharp drop in unemployment, the largest for fifteen years, means that graduate unemployment is now at its lowest level since before the onset of the financial crisis, in 2007. At that stage, unemployment for graduates was at 5.5 per cent.

It was also revealed that there has been a decline in the number of students working in retail, waiting and bar work, and those going on to further studies.

There was a rise in the number of graduates entering professional and managerial work, rising to 66.3 per cent from 64.9 per cent the year before.

The survey also found that the average graduate starting salary has increased this year by roughly £500 to £27,000.

The Sunday Times university league table, which ranks the University at 16th in the UK for 2015, awards York a graduate prospects score of 73.8, the 37th highest in the country.

The University of York’s graduate employment went up from 43 per cent in 2012 to 44 per cent 2013 while the numbers in non-graduate employment went down to 18.5 per cent from 19.4 per cent in 2011/2012.

According to the University, wages have also risen for both those working in graduate employment and non-graduate employment.

The average salary for those working in graduate employment was £27,085, compared to £15,308 for people working in non-graduate employment.

A spokesperson from the University told Nouse: “We are working to support new graduates in a variety of ways, for example liaising with the Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO) to enhance our contact with new alumni, reminding them that we offer career support for life and promoting opportunities to engage with us online or in person (depending on their location).

“We are also following up with students who made contact with us shortly before graduating and those we spoke to on graduation day.”

The University are currently developing their online resouces for undergraduate and postgraduate students, including the interactive Timeline on our website and the employability and CV tutorials on the VLE. An interview tutorial will soon be available.